Expect the Unexpected
by Bluebird202
Summary: Prime: When the Decepticons decide to investigate an escape pod of mysterious origin, they come across something completely unexpected. Or, rather, someone.


**Disclaimer:** Transformers does not belong to me. Transformers belongs to its respective owner, whoever that is at this point in time. Only unrecognizable characters belong to me. Theft of these characters will result in severe headaches induced by wrenches thrown by a certain grumpy medic. You know who I mean- consequently, he is not my character, either.

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><p><strong>Title: <strong>Expect the Unexpected

**Summary:** When the Decepticons decide to investigate an escape pod of mysterious origin, they come across something completely unexpected. Or, rather, some_one_.

**Rating: **T

**Chapter Word Count: **1,454

**Notes:** This plotbunny bit me on Saturday. Since it _is_ Christmas Break here, I have plenty of time to write this. Finally! This is probably just for fun, but I do a pretty good job, don't you think?

"Speaking"

_Thoughts_

_::Comm-speak::_

_/Bond-speak/_

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><p><strong>Expect the Unexpected<strong>

**Chapter 1**

**Not-So-Friendly Encounters**

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><p>"There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare."<br>**― Mary Renault, _The Charioteer_**

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><p>Knock Out hated organic materials with a vengeance.<p>

The only reason he was out here- in a place the humans called a 'redwood forest'- was because Megatron had sent him and Breakdown to find something that Soundwave believed to be an escape pod. Unfortunately, Soundwave could not pinpoint its origin. _Pfft, _Knockout thought, _Soundwave had better be right on this one. Better yet, the escape pod should have landed somewhere else. I can't see anything, much less find anything. _He checked his scanners again. Nothing. Of course there was nothing. It was 3 o'clock in the morning.

His train of thought was interrupted by a branch, which caught on the shoulder plate he had buffed only five hours ago, and Breakdown. _::Found anything yet?::_

"No," Knock Out replied as he finally decided to simply rip the offending branch off of the tree it was attached to. _Crack!_ "But, I do think that we are, _ahem_, getting closer." _No, we are not getting closer. Not at all._ He tossed the branch to the side. Totally inconspicuous. _Thump!_

_::Was that you?::_

"Was that me that did _what_?"

_::There was a cracking sound, and then a thump. Was that you?::_

"Umm, no? That was a branch from one of those _annoying_ trees."

_::You _idiot_! We... you... are supposed to be quiet!::_

"Whatever."

_::I heard that and I was almost a half-mile from you!::_

"It's not like we're going to find anything. At this rate, we wouldn't be able to find Starscream in his personal quarters." Starscream's personal quarters were scrap. Knock Out knew that only too well. He had gone in there once. He was _very _sure that nothing had changed.

_::I heard that Screamer cleaned up his quarters weeks ago,:: _Breakdown commented. But of course, Breakdown _would _know. The mech was basically a living rumor mill.

"That doesn't matter. We're probably never going to find this escape pod."

Breakdown was silent.

Suddenly, a _ping! _on his scanners rang out. Knock Out paused for a moment, running calculations on the odds of this anomaly being their target. Then, a defeated yet triumphant statement made it out of his vocalizer. "Breakdown, rendezvous at my coordinates. I've picked up something on my scanners."

Knock Out could almost swear he heard Breakdown laughing over the comm. system.

_::Proven yourself wrong, haven't you?::_ the larger mech remarked.

Knock Out was furious.

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><p><em>Systems Efficiency: 97.65%<em>

_Energon Levels: 63.89%_

_Damage: None_

_Overall Efficiency: 94.6%_

Glowing, purple optics onlined to darkness. Fortunately, the small figure those optics were attached to did not need light in this particular situation. The figure simply detached from its dock. However, it was surprised to find that it was still dark.

_Oh,_ it realized. This was the special pod. The figure knew because the pod was just over its length. But... why was it in the special pod?

That was a question to be answered later, the figure decided. It turned around, fumbling for the exit switch. It found it when it touched it with a well-sharpened claw, and then it tugged at the switch. On the second try the exit opened.

It was dark outside the pod, and a light source peeked out from behind a cloud of vapor. _All the better for me, _the figure thought. Its black armor blended in perfectly. It scanned the surrounding area; its scanners indicated organic organisms all around. All except for a large metal organism, which was slowly approaching.

Another Cybertronian.

_Crack!_ The small figure listened as the other Cybertronian tore an appendage off of one of the organic figures. Red armor glinted in the dappled light as it tossed the appendage to the side. The organic made no sound as its appendage landed with a loud thump. The large organics were probably non-sentient, according to this, or simply had no pain receptors, the shadow decided.

The red Cybertronian said something in a language that the shadow did not recognize. For all the shadow knew about its situation, however, it silently speculated that it could have all of its secondary functions turned off. Not its primary ones, though. If its primary functions were off, it would not have collected any of the information it had already gathered, of course.

Red, as the shadow decided to call the Cybertronian, said something else. Red was obviously looking for something. Was he looking for something with someone? That would explain the speaking. What was Red looking for?

A new thought dawned in the small shadow's processor. _Me. _

_Well, then, I should probably be getting out of the way, shouldn't I?_ the shadow thought, a mischievous streak showing itself.

Another scan of the immediate area indicated that Red was much closer. Another Cybertronian was near enough that the shadow was surprised that it had not picked it up before. Red and the new arrival conversed in quiet tones before cautiously approaching the shadow's position.

The figure disappeared up the nearest large organic and waited.

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><p>Knockout vented.<p>

He had been wrong. Completely wrong. There was a pod right _there_. It was a blaring red dot on his scanners.

Breakdown, however, had always believed that they would find the escape pod. So he had every right to laugh at Knockout, and laugh he did.

But now, they were in sight of the pod, and they were nervous, especially Knock Out. What would they find? They had _no_ idea what they would find, especially because _Soundwave _of all mechs could not find out what its origin was.

So they approached it carefully, Knock Out with twin buzzsaws equipped and spinning, and Breakdown with his hammer.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Nobody shot at them, nobody tried to surrender to them, and nobody suicidally flung themselves at them... so Knock Out decided to inspect the pod.

It was about the size of a human helicopter, Knock Out decided as he walked up to it, trading buzzsaws for servos. He kneeled on one knee in front of it, running his servos over it, feeling its texture and looking for an entrance point. He was careful to note that there were not any faction symbols on it. When he turned it over, he saw something that was not good at all. His vents hitched.

There was a hatch that was open.

Knock Out looked inside of it. It was empty.

The smaller mech motioned for Breakdown to come closer, and then gestured to the pod. "Breakdown, take a good look at this, will you?" Then, he stood up, walked around, and warily took quick glances around to make sure that its occupant... or occupants... were not in plain sight.

Breakdown picked the pod up. Then he looked it over, turning it and adjusting it in his servos, inspecting it thoroughly. His optics widened at something, and after a few moments, he spoke. "It's small, it's light, it's open, _and_ it's empty. Now we've got to look for whatever was in it, yes?" he prompted. Then he put it down. "Let's look for it, then."

Knock Out abruptly turned his headlights on, illuminating something behind Breakdown. The larger mech whirled around to look at whatever Knock Out had seen.

A small, dragon-like Cybertronian was attached, head downwards, to a redwood tree. Black armor shining in Knock Out's headlights, it hissed at the sudden light, tail thrashing. It tensed and flared a pair of wings, not unlike those of a bat.

After a moment, Knock Out summed up the feelings of both himself and Breakdown.

"Scrap!"

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><p>There it is for the first chapter! I hope you like it!<p> 


End file.
